10 Anime Titles That Illustrate the Rise and Fall of Cyberpunk in Japan

The cyberpunk genre, a branch of sci-fi best described as "high tech-low life," has long since passed its prime following its inception in the 1980s.

But while in the West its growth and subsequent decline was fairly steady, in Japan, due to a radically different economic development, the story was completely unique.

Over the decades, anime cyberpunk created its own unique version of the genre, then evolved to produce some of the most outstanding entries, and then crumbled under its own greatness, unable to top its previous groundbreaking achievements.

Let's take a look at ten anime titles that illustrate the rise and fall of Japanese cyberpunk.

1. Megazone 23 (1985-1989)

While the United States was afraid of the future because of how depressing things were in the 80s, which led to the birth of cyberpunk in the first place, Japan was thriving from its economic boom.

Young Japanese people weren't afraid of the dark future, but rather bored and fed up with their own too-comfortable lives, leading to the growing popularity of punk culture with its message of rebellion against social norms.

The "proto-cyberpunk" creations in anime bore little resemblance to their Western counterparts, but already mirrored the current state of society.

Megazone 23 Part I, released in 1985, was set in a seemingly perfect modern (at the time) world, which was then revealed to be an illusion hiding the fact that the story actually took place in a grim future (clearly serving as an inspiration for The Matrix ).

Parts II and III, released in 1986 and 1989 respectively, are not that important in the grand scheme of things, so we'll skip them.

2. Bubblegum Crisis (1985)

The creators of Bubblegum Crisis, inspired by the Western cyberpunk entries, made it more like the classics of the genre, with rogue androids, futuristic cities, and evil corporations.

But they also gave their creation a distinctly Japanese flavor by incorporating colorful mechs, funny slice-of-life scenes, and bizarre exaggerations.

3. Appleseed (1988)

Between 1985 and 1988 there were a lot of unconventional and colorful anime titles that took pieces of the cyberpunk genre, but Appleseed deserves special attention.

Like Megazone 23 and Bubblegum Crisis, it is set in a rather utopian future where humans and robots coexist peacefully until a mysterious terrorist appears.

It also has its bright and shiny moments, but what makes it interesting is that the terrorist's wife kills herself at the very beginning of the story because she feels trapped in a gilded cage that turns her husband against the perfect society.

Remember what we said about the Japanese being fed up with their own too-good-to-be-true lives?

Appleseed was also created by Masamune Shirow, who will become extremely important later on.

4. Akira (1988)

Akira is rightly considered one of the greatest cyberpunk creations of all time, as it impressed everyone in the West upon its release (it was only a moderate success in Japan) thanks to its outstanding quality.

With its many messages and allusions, the story of two teenage members of a biker gang who come into conflict with the government after discovering a secret bioweapon, conquered the hearts of Westerners to such an extent that references to it can still be found today, spreading far beyond the cyberpunk genre.

5. Armitage III (1995)

After Japan's asset price bubble burst in 1991, it led to a long period of economic stagnation.

Now that the days of being fed up with the near-perfect life were over, this naturally influenced cyberpunk anime, killing its former lighthearted nature, making it more true to the roots of cyberpunk and giving birth to some of the genre's greatest creations.

If you're even remotely familiar with the genre, you must have heard of Ghost in the Shell, but earlier that same year, another title explored very similar ideas.

Armitage III follows a female android, Naomi Armitage, who is so human-like that it is hard to tell if she is actually a machine. Together with her tough male companion she tries to fight a mysterious terrorist in a futuristic city. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

6. Ghost in the Shell (1995)

Based on a manga by Masamune Shirow (creator of the aforementioned Appleseed), Ghost in the Shell is truly monumental in its exploration of the same ideas of the difference between a human and an advanced machine.

Motoko Kusanagi, a special government agent, hunts down a mysterious hacker-terrorist while dealing with an identity crisis of her own, unsure if she is even human since 99% of her body has been replaced by cybernetics.

It masterfully blended all the classic traits of the genre into a beautiful result that would influence countless other works in the genre, including The Matrix, for years to come.

However, its release also marked the end of the golden age of cyberpunk anime, as its grandeur and exploration of many deep themes made GitS virtually impossible to top.

7. Serial Experiments Lain (1998)

The undeniable perfection of GitS meant that subsequent installments in the genre had to try something new, which was incredibly difficult for the aforementioned reasons.

And one of the most unique and mind-bending cyberpunk anime titles is Serial Experiments Lain, which explored the Internet, human society, and much more.

But it's too convoluted and perhaps even too unique, which, together with the fact that it's not set in the future and lacks most of the genre's characteristics, makes it not to everyone's taste.

8. Texhnolyze (2003)

Further deviating from the canon, Texhnolyze is an anti-cyberpunk story set in a post-apocalyptic world and dealing with themes of rejection of technology.

The basic setup is pretty simple. After losing two of his limbs and having them replaced with cybernetic ones, Ichise tries to get rid of them, but a lot of undertones and philosophical ideas make the story a much deeper statement about not losing yourself to technology.

9. Ergo Proxy (2006)

Beginning as a familiar cyberpunk adventure, Ergo Proxy quickly turns into another immensely complex philosophical deep dive with countless allusions and references, exploring themes of God, humanity, and identity.

Set in a post-apocalyptic future with domed cities, it then takes the protagonists out into the wasteland to solve the mystery of what exactly the titular proxy is.

10. Psycho-Pass (2013)

As you can see, cyberpunk anime went in a completely different direction after GitS, trying to rediscover itself, but the genre briefly returned to a familiar path with the release of Psycho-Pass.

It still had a seemingly utopian dystopian society, AI, cybernetic enhancements and other familiar traits, but in a bitter twist of irony, it felt a bit repetitive and unoriginal.

The idea of a world where every citizen has their own predisposition index to commit a crime is lifted directly from Minority Report (2002), starring Tom Cruise, so while the story of detectives trying to catch a serial killer is great, it sadly lacks the depth of previous cyberpunk anime masterpieces.

It was a sort of tombstone for the whole genre, as a decade later nothing really interesting happened in the once monumental field of Japanese cyberpunk.